357. Amphoriskos

Condition

Some weathering around the rim, neck, and handles, giving the vessel a chalky white coat.

Description

Fire-polished, flaring rim; cylindrical neck; ovular body, standing on a pushed-in tubular base-ring; flat bottom. Two opaque white coil handles, with translucent greenish striations, start on the upper body curve and end at mid-height on the neck. The remaining section of the glass thread was bent over the handle, forming a fine ridge along the central part of the coil. The handles are unevenly applied, one starting slightly lower. The body is slightly lopsided and an indentation is visible under the handle, which starts higher, probably induced when the blob of glass that formed the handle was pressed on this area.

Comments and Comparanda

This form is a miniature variant of a contemporary glass tableware vessel (Isings 1957, pp. 32–34, form 15). Dated parallels, ranging from the early decades of the first century to the very end of the same century, have been published from several sites, including Heddernheim (Welker 1974, pp. 63–65, form 12); Locarno-Muralto (Carazzetti and Biaggio-Simona 1988, p. 45, no. 19, plate ΙΙ); Albenga (Massabò 2001, pp. 108–109, 168–169, nos. 58–59, 125); Aquileia (Calvi 1968, p. 24, plates 1.2–1.4); Zadar, Nona, or Benkovac (Ravagnan 1994, pp. 36–37, nos. 29, 31, 33; Alfano 1997, no. 77); Starigrad (Fadić 1989, p. 39, no. 136, plate Χ.2); Kerch (Kunina 1997, p. 321, no. 339); Dura-Europos (Clairmont 1963, p. 30, no. 123, plate 20); Thessaloniki (Antonaras 2009, pp. 274–275, nos. 461–462 = Antonaras 2017, p. 138); and Athens (Alexandri 1972, pp. 115–118, plate 76δ). From the distribution pattern of the finds it is assumed that they were produced in northern Italy or Ticino (Ravagnan 1994, pp. 36–37; Antonaras 2009, pp. 274–275, form 113 = Antonaras 2017, p. 138).

Provenance

By 1974–1988, Erwin Oppenländer, 1901–1988 (Waiblingen, Germany), by inheritance to his son, Gert Oppenländer, 1988; 1988–2003, Gert Oppenländer (Waiblingen, Germany), sold to the J. Paul Getty Museum, 2003

Bibliography

von Saldern et al. 1974, p. 199, no. 548.

Exhibitions

Gläser der Antike: Sammlung Erwin Oppenländer (Hamburg and Cologne, 1974–1975)